DANVILLE- The final curtain closed on the Twin Valley boys’ season in the first round of Division IV basketball playoffs in Danville Thursday night, as the Wildcats battled back from a 17-point deficit, but could not overcome the Indians in the fourth quarter and left town with a 66-54 loss. Twin Valley kept the game close in the first quarter, but had trouble containing the inside game of Brett Elliott, who would finish the game with 26 points. Danville ran a triangle two-deep defense that smothered Twin Valley’s leading scorer, shooting guard Dal Nesbitt, and point guard Colin Lozito, who had no luck working the ball inside.

After one quarter, Twin Valley was down by single digits, but the lead began to inflate as the second quarter wore on, and the Wildcats headed into the half with a still manageable 33-20 deficit. With Dal Nesbitt being forced to hold the ball rather than shoot, the Wildcats relied on Cade Nesbitt and Hunter Therrien for scoring. Cade Nesbitt made three three-pointers and came up with four rebounds, while Therrien, playing in what would be his last game in the red Wildcat uniform, had what coach Chris Brown described as his best all-around game of the season. Therrien scored 10 points and recorded six rebounds, hitting big shots in the fourth to keep his team threatening.

The third quarter showed little offensive production by Twin Valley, with the Indians’ lead ballooning to 17 at one point in the quarter. The Wildcats got their deficit back to 13 with the score 47-34 after the third quarter. Twin Valley went on the attack in the fourth quarter, playing full-court press defense, and forcing turnovers that helped cut the Indians’ lead to six points. With the ball in their possession, Twin Valley was unable to cut the lead to four, and two fouls later was back down by 10.

Danville shot well from the free-throw line (22 of 30) and gave no chances for the Wildcats to come back after that. Typically the Wildcats are able to play better when they don’t commit turnovers, but the Indians’ stifling defense caused Twin Valley to shoot only 38% on the night. The Wildcats stayed behind for the remainder of the game, unable to make another run.

Brown says it was a tough season and he thought his team was truly better than the #13 position they ended up with in the Division IV rankings. According to Brown, the standings just didn’t reflect the team’s ability. “Though it didn’t really show in the win column, they were competitive every game,” said Brown. “Hopefully next year they can make the next jump and really see the fruits of their labor, because these guys do work hard.”

Brown also noted that this team has a lot to work on over the summer, but with his starters returning to give it another go next year, Brown is optimistic. “Things look promising for next year,” said Brown. “We get all the starters back and I think they will really lead the way as seniors and leave their mark by the time they’re done.”

Dal Nesbitt finished the season as Twin Valley’s leading scorer with 368 points and an 18.4 points-per-game average. Lozito ended the season with 157 assists for an average of 7.6 per game. Sam Molner was Twin Valley’s leading rebounder with 165 total rebounds and added 45 blocked shots. Cade Nesbitt led the team in steals with 53.